Cycling events are growing in number and size, including Sunday’s car-free CicloSDias ride through five neighborhoods in San Diego. Bike advocacy groups are becoming more prominent and government funding is coming through for related projects, driven in part by clean-air laws and greater public awareness of cycling's health benefits. Supporters said the region's roadways could be transformed for everyday and competitive cyclists within a decade.

Could the rising popularity bring an increase in conflicts between motorists and bikers? Some local leaders said it might very well heighten the tension in certain cases.

But even those skeptical of the need for new bike routes said more should be done to fill the gaps of the region’s existing bike network, which stretches in scattered pieces across the county.

Over the next 40 years, the San Diego Association of Governments expects to spend $2.6 billion on bicycle and pedestrian projects, according to a blueprint the regional agency approved in 2011. That's just 1.2 percent of the $214 billion SANDAG set aside for the overall transportation network.

Still, it’s up considerably from the $377 million SANDAG forecast for this “active transportation” category in a 20-year plan several years ago.

Next month, regional planners are poised to take a significant step for bicycling.

SANDAG’s board of directors will consider authorizing up to $220 million for a bicycle “early action program.” That would pay for roughly 40 segments of high priority bikeways within 10 years.

That future network, combined with new bicycling events such as CicloSDias and Solana Beach’s Giro di San Diego in September, could someday push the region to the top of the bike-friendly rankings, said one advocate.

“There’s no reason we can’t be out front. We should be leading the way for bike-friendliness,” said Andy Hanshaw, who heads the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition. “We’re catching up.”

Bicycling events

CicloSDias

What: A car-free bicycling and walking event open to all ages.

When: Sunday, Aug. 11, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: 5-mile ride goes through Logan Heights, Golden Hill, South Park and North Park and City Heights along 30th Street. Its bookends include 30th and K streets in Logan Heights and Cherokee Point Elementary School in City Heights. This is the event’s first year.

What: A two-day celebration of cycling and food in North County, including five timed cycling rides and a 5K Taste of Solana Beach restaurant walk. This is the event’s second year.

When: September 7-8

Where: Solana Beach; cycling rides include a 108-mile route from Solana Beach to Palomar Mountain and back; 66-mile route from Solana Beach to Valley Center and back; and a 38-mile route from Solana Beach around Lake Hodges and back.

If approved in September, the up to $220 million would help complete large sections of bike corridors that have been planned for nearly a decade but only partially built due to a lack of funding. They include the Coastal Rail Trail, a path envisioned from Oceanside to San Diego; the Inland Rail Trail, from Escondido to Oceanside; the San Diego River Trail from Santee to Ocean Beach; and the Bayshore Bikeway around San Diego Bay.